Mindful Eating and Eating Decisions

You might be aware of the term "mindfulness", but do you know that it can be applied to our eating behaviors? Cautious eating involves mindfulness to overcome eating habits in our extremely busy lives. The aim is to shift the attention from thinking about food to exploring and enjoying dining experiences. It is not about diets, rather focuses on developing a new mindset about food.

You may eat unconsciously if you:

• Rush through meals.
• Graze on foods without actually trying them.
• Eat consistently until you feel unwell or overly full.
• Do not pay attention to the food you eat and frequently eat with disruptions around.
• Have trouble remembering the look, taste, and smell of the meal you just ate.

Adopting a more cautious eating method can increase the pleasure of eating, help good digestion, reduce overeating, lessen anxiety around food, and improve the affiliation with food.

The following are the main techniques to help mindful eating:

1. Prioritize meal times: Try to take at least 15 minutes to sit back and enjoy your meal.
2. Avoid rushing at mealtimes: Schedule your meal when you have enough time and are not likely to be interrupted.
3. Always sit down to eat: Try to avoid eating while standing or in front of the refrigerator.
4. Avoid distractions while eating: It's impossible to enjoy food while our interest is elsewhere. Eating in this situation is usually pointless and can lead to overeating, making unhealthy options, or not enjoying meals at all.
5. Place your food on a bowl/plate: Avoid eating foods from the ice cream tub, packets, take-away containers, etc.
6. Put your utensils down: Place cutlery next to your palate between bites and chew the food consciously.
7. Only eat till you are 80% full: Which means you are satisfied, but not overfull.
8. Prepare your meals, if possible: Food preparation - touch, taste, and smell - can improve your psychological relationship with food.
9. Use your senses: Take time to taste and savor your food. Before you eat, take note of the smell, appearance, overall appeal of your meal. While eating, identify components for the food you taste. What you smell? What's the flavor? How does it taste?
10. While eating, ask yourself how you feel about the food: Do you feel pleasure, happiness, remorse, stress, guilt, or dissatisfaction? Ask yourself what thoughts the food brings to mind.
11. Notice the impact of high-quality food: The effects of seasonal, fresh, minimally processed, whole foods on your mood, and overall vitality. Food can nourish your body and provide nutrition to promote optimal function. When you eat better, you will feel better both psychologically and physically.

We are what we eat. This saying fits perfectly with the concept of mindful eating. Deliberately focusing your attention on the present can encourage you to embrace company, connectivity, overall satisfaction, and make this period more meaningful to you. Mindful eating is nothing but a conscious effort to know what is in your food and how and when to eat.

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